Food News

Seafood Coronation The Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board (www.louisianaseafood.com) will crown one chef its King or Queen of American Seafood this weekend as part of its annual industry convention, the Foodservice Expo and Gulf Coast Seafood Pavilion , held at the convention center. On Saturday, chefs from around the nation will compete, preparing a dish using domestic, sustainable seafood from their states. Six will advance to the final round, held on Sunday, where they will be joined by other chefs conducting cooking demonstrations. Brian Landry of Galatoire's (209 Bourbon St., 525-2021; www.galatoires.com) will represent Louisiana in the cook-off. He was selected in May after his sautéed cobia with crab butter won a seafood contest at the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience . The seafood board's events continue on Monday, Aug. 4, when the convention center will host the Alligator Soiree , in which Louisiana culinary schools compete with dishes using alligator. The cook-off and Alligator Soiree are open to the public and tickets good for all three days are available for $10 at the door. Events begin at 11:30 a.m. TV Dinners New Orleans public television station WYES this week begins its annual " A Season of Good Tastes ," a series of wine dinners at restaurants around the area. Each dinner consists of five or six courses paired with wine for $85 per person. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit WYES. All dinners begin at 7 p.m. The first dinner is scheduled for July 30 at Chateau du Lac (2037 Metairie Road, Metairie, 831-3773; www.chateaudulacbistro.com). See www.wyes.org for a complete list of restaurants, menus and dates. Dinner guests also can enter a sweepstakes to win a home coffee brewing system from Community Coffee . Reservations for all dinners should be made through WYES by calling Sharon Snowdy at 840-4886. Curry in the Hurry The slim ranks of local Indian restaurants have a new addition with the recent opening of Curry Corner (1200 S. Carrollton Ave., 861-9033). This is a casual, quick-serve restaurant operated by the same people who run Sara's (724 Dublin St., 861-0565; www.sarasrestaurant.com), a Riverbend restaurant where a hybrid menu mixes Indian and Creole cooking. Curry Corner, however, is more like a cafeteria-style option for a daily assortment of curries, lentils and meat or vegetarian-based stews accompanied by basmati rice and side salads. There also is a small selection of Indian grocery items. Curry Corner is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday.  McNulty